The Best Shape of My Life!

40 minutes, Weights

30 minutes, Swimming

30 minutes, Home Workout

Part treadmill (mix of run and walk), part flexibility, part bodyweight resistance. It was good. And my daughter is feeling much better tonight, so she came down to the basement and did a workout with me. She’s so funny! Normally I get annoyed when people either watch me or try to get close to me while working out. But I didn’t mind her being there, and we actually did some exercises together. We both did some planks and crunches, and then she sat on my back while I did some pushups.

Tomorrow I’m traveling with my debaters to a tourney, so I probably won’t be able to do a workout. But maybe then I’ll be nice and recovered to hit the weights again on Sunday.

40 minutes, Weights

Had to stay home with my sick daughter all day, but I did get to go to the gym later in the evening. Felt great to just pound on the iron and release some built in frustrations. Not necessarily frustrations toward my daughter, just being cooped up in the house all day long. I hate that!

But I did get some valuable time to work on my thesis, and I did need that. So I guess the day was fairly productive.

25 minutes, Swimming

Oh, did it feel GREAT to get back into the water! I was feeling a bit tight and sore from my weight workout yesterday, and swimming did an awesome job of loosening me up. I’m going to spend some time stretching before I go to bed, and hope that tomorrow I’ll still be able to do another weight workout.

30 minutes, Weights

I went to the gym right after work (around 3:30 pm). Usually I’m pretty worn out by that time of the day (it’s my slump time–I’m a morning person), but I was pepping myself up all day about going in and lifting some weights, which I hadn’t done in a long time. I loved it! Not only did I have enough energy to complete a great workout (without the use of energy boosting crap), but I thoroughly enjoyed it. And, the best part is, I got to go home and not worry about completing a workout later that evening!

I was a bit sore today, but not nearly as bad as I thought I would be.

I got a free health screening this week, and here are the results…

Weight: 195 lbs
Waist Circumference: 35 inches
BF%: 17.9 (used a handheld, not a pinch test)
BMI: 27

Total Chol: 153
HDL Chol: 36

Blood Pressure: 120/84
Glucose: 96

Overall, the results are pretty good. The nurse specifically said that the bodyfat percent was "great"! I looked at her critically…it’s the personal trainer in me, sorry, can’t help it. But at least it did put some things in perspective. From a health standpoint, I’m still in great shape. My blood pressure is the highest it’s ever been, but it’s still within the quite healthy range. The nurse told me that it was probably a bit over the mark (lower number higher than 80) because she had just pricked me to get the blood test, and I hate needles and prickings. Oh well….Life goes on. Total cholesterol level is amazing! I was thinking it would be much higher than that with the diet I’ve had lately. And the stress of my life! Whew, don’t even get me started there. But I’m doing better than I thought. There are a few things, though, that I plan to address pretty quickly.
1. Lowering overall bodyfat. Biggest key here is diet. I know….just hard to implement.

2. Increasing HDL Cholesterol: eat more plants, perform more cardio.

3. Decrease waist circumference: eat more plants, eat less food overall, perform more cardio.

See a trend? LOL!

For now, at least…

I haven’t been gaining weight, and I haven’t noticed a great increase in bodyfat since the last measurement. So I’m doing all I can right now just to keep what I’ve got. Time has been sucked away from me as I’m in full deep into my thesis, as well as another graduate course. Not to mention my full time job and full time family. So yeah, CRAZY!

But, I’m keeping to my smaller workouts as much as possible. Ten minutes here and there, maybe some swimming every once in a while. Most of the workouts are done at home, but I go to the gym whenever I can. It’s a nice release from all the stresses of my job, school, and family. And for now, I’m just doing what I can to keep myself as healthy and fit as possible. Once I get my master’s degree, I can maybe attempt to get back into the whole fitness thing a bit more.

For being 28, I’m in pretty good shape. Could I be better? Sure! Especially if I had the time and were getting paid to do so. But since I don’t and am not, my life has been reduced to being "just me." But hey, that’s a pretty good life I think.

:)

I’m taking a break for a while from my profile. There are a LOT of things going on in my life, and trying to keep up with my bodyspace profile just has to take a back seat for now. My fitness/health routine is so out of whack as it is, that there really isn’t any purpose to reporting it. I’m coming to terms with the fact that I’m 28, I have a full time job, I have a family (and I’m getting ready to add a second child), and I’m a full-time graduate student (phd).

So I’ll keep this as updated as I can, and I’m going to attempt to keep myself as fit as possible. But it’s not an easy task. For those that like to post on my profile and/or blog, you may still do so. I’ll be checking my site, but probably just not posting as much.

Take care everyone. I wish you all the best in your own personal journies!
Nate

PM- 30 minutes, swimming

Not as much as I’d like to do, but it was good to get in the water and go.